internal conflict
by florie14
Summary: Gray and Juvia are childhood friends. They eventually fall in love with each other and dream of getting married on day. But one fateful day changes the course of their relationship. Now Gray is no longer interested in Juvia and has a new goal in life to achieve. The story is set in a non magical modern day universe (AU). Nothing is as it seems, deeper and darker secrets are lurking
1. Prologue

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.)**

 **Prologue**

"HEY, You there" Silver shouted pointing at a man who was setting up streamer lights as a part of decorating the 'Fullbuster Mansion'. "You haven't yet finished it? There's only five minutes left before the clock strikes twelve. HURRY UP!" The man nodded his head and sped up his work. "Honey, I finished the cake" Mika said placing the cake on the table. "How is it?" she asked. "It looks delicious sweetheart. Let's go get Gray" he replied and kissed her on the cheek. Both of them held hands together and walked up the stairs in the grand foyer towards Gray's room. The staircase was lit up with lights and was decorated with flowers. On reaching Gray's room, Silver knocked on the door. When he didn't receive any response he kept knocking for a few minutes. Gray forced his eyes open groggily after hearing the knock and turned to see the clock. It showed 11:59pm. _"What's going on at this time in the night?"_ he thought to himself and went to open the door. He saw both his parents standing in front of his room staring at him. He raised an eyebrow questioningly at them.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY SWEET 16!" they exclaimed together and blasted a party popper. "WOAH!" Gray exclaimed and looked surprised. "Thank you mom and dad. But couldn't you guys have waited until morning, why get yourselves worked up at this time of the night and mom shouldn't you have been in bed by now after taking your tablets. You should take care of your health first mom." Silver hugged his son and said "My son has certainly become more responsible, I can now entrust my company to him without a doubt." "Come on dad! Don't you think it's a little too early? I want to equip myself better with educational qualifications first and then take over from you." "I know son and you will do a far better job than me by then. Come on now, your mother has prepared cake for you." "Mom, I already told you not to exert yourself much, you should concentrate on improving your health." Mika kissed her son on the forehead and said "Doing something for my son on his special day gives me immense joy and I get it only once a year." All three of them had a group hug together and made their way to the grand foyer. Suddenly they stood stunned when they heard the footsteps of a person running towards the main entrance. _"Who could be visiting us at this hour?"_ Gray thought. They heard the doorbell ring and a maid ran towards the door to see who it is. The maid was shocked to see the person at the door from the doorbell cam. "JUVIA!" she exclaimed. When she opened the door Juvia ran towards Gray and hugged him and wished him "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! GRAY SAMA!" Gray was shocked as were his parents. "Juvia! How did you come here at this time of the night? How did Miss Amelia let you go out of the orphanage?" "Gray sama, Juvia pleaded with Miss Amelia to let her go, just to visit Gray sama and wish him on his birthday." "Well thank you Juvia but you could have wished me on the phone. It's what you do every year right? And besides it's dangerous to move around alone at night." Juvia pouted and said "First of all its Gray sama's sixteenth birthday. It's very special and also if Juvia wished you on the phone how could she have given you this present now?" and handed him a gift wrapped box. Gray accepted the gift from Juvia and started to untie the ribbon. Juvia held his hands and said "Can you open this later when you are alone its very special." Gray nodded in obedience. Gray's parents greeted Juvia and hugged her. "Ok then, let's cut the cake!" Silver exclaimed. They all sang happy birthday when Gray cut the cake and fed each other. When this celebration was over Silver said "Let's all get to bed, we have lots of work to do in the morning. Gray have you informed all your friends about the party in the evening?" "Yes dad they are all coming. But don't forget we have to distribute sweets at the 'The Comfort' orphanage in the morning." "How can I forget that son? Every year many plans can change but the orphanage visit never changes." "Yes dad. Over these years I have grown close to the people in that orphanage. They now seem like family to me." Mika elbowed Juvia teasingly and said "And a certain girl from there seems to have stolen your heart Gray!" Gray and Juvia looked at each other and blushed profusely. Gray suddenly looked away and said "Uh, Juvia I think you should stay here for the night, it's dangerous to go out at midnight. You can go back to the orphanage with us tomorrow morning." Juvia nodded in agreement. "Mika, looks like I'm going to get my daughter in law soon" Silver said teasingly. "DAD!" Gray said blushing, "We should get to bed. Juvia you can sleep in the guest room." Juvia's face seemed red. She wished everyone good night and left to the guest room. Gray got back to his room and looked at the present Juvia gave him. He wondered what was in it and began to untie it and then stopped midway and decided to open it in the morning with Juvia by his side. He placed it carefully in the drawer near his bed and went to sleep. _"This girl sure knows how to surprise me and that is one of the things I love about her"_ he thought.

In the morning Gray, Juvia and Silver got ready to go to the orphanage. "Mika, we are leaving." Silver said. "OK! Drive safely. By the time you come back I'll have everything ready for the party" she shouted from the kitchen. When they stepped foot outside the mansion Gray remembered _"OH NO! Juvia's gift."_ But then he decided _"I'll open it later. I have the whole day anyway."_ They sat in a blue 'Bugatti Chiron" car and drove past the mansion garden towards the gate. No sooner the car rolled out the gate than Silver stopped the car. "What happened dad?" gray asked. "Just give me sec. I wanted to ask if your mom took the tablets today morning because I didn't see her taking it. Let me just confirm." Silver replied. Gray nodded. Silver dialed up Mika and asked "Sweet heart did you take your tablets today?" "Oh thank you for reminding me. I forgot to take them" she replied. "Mika, you should be careful with your health first. You know right, how much I love you. I don't want to lose you" Silver said in a low tone. "I know honey and I love you too" she replied. Gray on hearing this conversation thought _"someday when I get married to Juvia I would like my marriage to be just like my parents'."_ Unknowing he was staring at Juvia for a long time while thinking. Juvia looked at him puzzled and asked "Gray sama, is anything wrong?" Gray suddenly broke out from his thoughts, "N-no, n-nothing" he stammered and immediately looked away. Juvia looked at him and thought _"He looks really cute while blushing"_ and smiled.

Suddenly they heard a blast and Mika screamed "AAAAAAAAAH!" When they all turned around to see the source of the noise, to their horror they saw the entire mansion burning in flames. "MIKAAAAAAAAAAA!" "MOOOOOOOOOOOM!" "AUNTYYYYYYYYYYYY!" This day changed the life of Silver, Gray and Juvia upside down. A day they planned to celebrate turned into a day of mourning. Gray Fullbuster was never the same again. 


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _10 years later._

A private jet lands at the Magnolia airport at around 1 AM. A young man in a black armani suit, descends down the air stairs of the jet. He is seen having spiky black hair. A silver necklace with a cross shaped sword dollar was shining under the moon light on top of his black suit. Few minutes later, a very stylish red Koenigsegg Regera car drove in and stopped in front of him. The young man started moving forward towards the car when suddenly there was a strange movement behind a parked ground vehicle. A silhouette of a man was emerging from the shadow of the ground vehicle. The young man looked shocked when he saw the man's face under the light. The man walked till the car, extended his hand to greet him and looked at the young man with a smile and said "Welcome back. Gray!" Gray studied the man's face for a few seconds. A small smile formed on his lips, he stretched his hands forward to greet the man and said "Good to see you after a long time. Uncle Max!" They both shook hands and hugged each other. Gray looked at his uncle's uniform and asked him "Are you working here?" Max replied "Yes Gray. I work as a ground staff in this airport." Gray looked at him in shock, "Why? You were pursuing bachelors in Interior Designing. I Thought you would join Fullbuster Constructions" Max's expressions turned sad after he heard Gray's question, he replied "I couldn't complete it. After my sister Mika's death I was so depressed that my mind was flooded with only her thoughts and I couldn't clear the exams." Gray put his hand on Max's shoulder and said "I can understand." Max saw the dejected expression in Gray's eyes and changed the topic by asking "Silver said you were coming tomorrow at this time, how come you're here now? Did you prepone your trip?" Gray was startled at the question and was about to give an answer when Max's phone started to ring. He picked it up, "Yes sir, I'll see you in a minute." He looked at Gray and said "I have to go. It was a call from one of the higher ups, they need me. See you later." Saying this he waved goodbye to Gray and ran towards the airport terminal.

Gray sat in his car and looked at the driver and said "To Isvan." Few hours later, the car came to a stop in front of a graveyard. It was almost dawn and the graveyard was surrounded by an eerie atmosphere. Gray stepped out of his car, walked towards the gate, opened it and kept walking until he reached his mother's grave. The grave stood out among the others due to its appearance. It had a beautiful cross structure and on it her name was etched 'MIKA FULLBUSTER' with her picture above her name. Gray's body began to tremble and his eyes were tearing up as he remembered that tragic day. He fell to knees in front of the grave and started sobbing profusely. "How could you leave me and go so early. You were under treatment and you were responding so well, then how come…" At this point he broke down and cried his heart out. When he finished crying, he got up to leave and then realized _"The flowers, damn, I forgot them in the car."_ He took his phone and called up his driver and said "Get me the flowers, I left them in the car." The driver quickly brought them to him. Gray took those flowers and looked at him and said "You can leave now." The driver gave him a sad look and left. Gray knelt down and placed those flowers on his mother's grave. He felt anger surge in him. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, _"Everything was going fine and mom was recovering well. HOW IN THE WORLD DID THAT BLAST HAPPEN? What if it was not an accident but an intended murder? My dad had many business rivals. Could someone have stooped so low as to kill in order to profit? I am going mad since the last 10 years just thinking about it. Now that I have returned from London and also took full responsibility of the company from Dad, I am going to go to the depth of this issue. If somebody had caused this intentionally then I am going to end that person's life with my own hands."_

The driver was waiting outside the graveyard for almost three hours now and still did not see any sight of Gray coming out from there. He pulled out his wallet and stared at the photo of Silver, Mika and Gray along with him. He shed few tears looking at that photo. _"Young master Gray has changed so much. He doesn't talk much to anyone. He never smiles. He doesn't even show his feelings and always has a stoic expression on his face. He went to London to study immediately a year after his mother's death. I thought he would find new reasons to live, to stay happy and find new goals, but he never moved on from that day."_ He started to remember those days when he used to drive all of them to amusement parks during holidays. They were like a happy family and they were generous enough to include him as one among them. He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Gray coming towards the graveyard gate, he quickly put his wallet back in his pocket and stepped out of the car to open the door for the young master.

Gray sat in his car and ordered the driver "Back to the airport." The driver turned back and looked at him in shock. "Master Gray, please don't be offended if I ask you this but you were supposed to come tomorrow but you came today and now you want to go back to the airport. Are you not going to stay? Silver is waiting very impatiently to meet you. He will be very dejected if you don't meet him. And also you are supposed to take over the responsibilities of your company from him officially." Gray looked at him blankly and said "JUST DO AS I SAY!" He immediately retreated back to his seat and drove him back to the airport. When he got down at the airport he looked at the driver and said "Don't tell my dad anything." The driver replied "Master Gray, I won't. You have my word on this." Gray nodded and turned around and started moving towards the airport terminal. When he saw that the car was completely out of sight he turned around and went to a hotel near the airport.

He checked in at the hotel. He went to his room and threw himself on the bed. He laid there on the bed for a while and then took out his phone and messaged his dad _'Dad, I couldn't start on time so I will be late. Don't come to the airport, I'll come home directly.'_ He felt bad after sending this message. _"Sorry Dad. I wanted to go see mom first and I also didn't want you to feel depressed and stressed by reminding you of those sad memories. If I told you, you would also want to come with me to see mom and travelling would cause you more stress, but you wouldn't care about your stress when it's something related to mom."_ After shedding a few tears Gray went to sleep.

At 'Spitaki mu' (Greek for sweet home.), the Fullbuster residence, the preparations were on full swing. Silver has organized a celebration to declare his son as the next CEO of the 'Fullbuster Constructions'. The guests are constantly pouring in from the business world as 'The Fullbuster Constructions' is one of the giants in Magnolia. Silver was constantly looking out of the door in hope of seeing traces of his son entering the mansion. His heart jumped with joy when he saw Gray's car enter the mansion gate. Silver ran to the car, opened the door for his son and hugged him and while shedding a few tears he said "You came back after such a long time, not once did you come in between. How I longed to see you at least once Gray." Gray looked at him and said "I needed some time Dad, to steady myself, learn new things and to be strong mentally and physically. I think these many years have paid off as I am ready for the challenges ahead." Silver looked at his son with pride. He then clutched Gray's hands and took him inside the house and ordered the house keeper to get Gray's things to his room.

Gray stood stunned looking at his house. The house was decorated with flowers and lights and a board was placed at the entrance which read 'WELCOME BACK GRAY' in gold color letters. "Did you like it Gray? It's all done for you" Silver asked his son. Gray looked at Silver and said "Dad what is happening here?" Silver tightened his grip on Gray's hand and said "I am going to officially announce you as the next CEO of this company." Gray looked shocked, "But Dad this could have been done more privately, and you know how nervous I get when there are a lot of strangers around me." Silver looked at his son lovingly and said "It's going to be ok. You might be dealing with some of the people here in the future, who knows. Put your fears aside Gray it's about time you faced the world."

At 'The Comfort' orphanage, Juvia got dressed up and was ready to leave when Amelia caught Juvia by her arm. Juvia turned around and to look at her and asked "What happened?" with a confused look. "Where are you going?" she asked. Juvia smiled awkwardly and said "T-To Gray sama's house?" Amelia raised her eyebrow and said "Didn't I tell you not to go there Juvia?" Juvia looked at her pleadingly and said "Please let Juvia go. Gray sama's father called Juvia up yesterday and informed her that Gray sama is coming home today and Juvia is dying to go see Gray sama. So please let Juvia go." "Juvia, this is not a private or personal party, this is related to their business. A lot of high class people will be there and those people will not welcome you with open arms they will only ridicule you for your status. You waited for so many years can't you wait one more day?" Amelia argued. Juvia's eyes were tearing up, she looked at Amelia, trying to hold back her tears she said "It's been so long since Juvia saw Gray sama. Juvia sent him letters every week all these years but never got one single reply. He didn't even tell Juvia that he was coming today. Juvia doesn't care what other people say to her or think about her. Juvia just wants to ask Gray sama why he didn't reply to her letters, why he avoided her all this time and to just be with him. So please let Juvia go." She couldn't hold back her tears anymore and buried her face into her hands and started sobbing. Amelia saw how desperate Juvia was and also how faithfully she had been waiting all these years with a hope to see Gray one day and said "Ok then, if it is that important to you, go. But just meet Gray and comeback all right. Don't spend too much time there." Amelia pulled Juvia into a hug and said "I just don't want you to get hurt." Juvia looked at her and said "Juvia will be all right Miss Amelia. Don't worry much about her. Thank you for allowing Juvia to go." She turned around, waved a goodbye and left.

Juvia was startled to see how glamorous this house has become with all the lights and decorations. Juvia doesn't come to this house often except sometimes when Silver needs company or he remembers Mika or Gray and feels lonely. But whenever Juvia came here she felt empty because Gray was not here. But today is different, she could feel her heat beat rate increasing, she was finaly going to meet her Gray sama. Despite her confusion of him avoiding her all these years she was till anxious and excited to meet him. She was standing in a corner and looking in all directions to see if she could spot him anywhere. She felt her heart come to her mouth when she saw him standing in front with his father. Her eyes were tearing up. Gray looked more handsome now and thinking about it made her blush profusely. She felt like she wanted to go and hug him.

Silver grabbed a mic and said "Welcome, All our esteemed guests in this house. Today is a very happy day for me. I am going to be free from all my responsibilities. The young man here, my son 'Gray Fulbuster' is going to take charge as the CEO of the 'Fullbuster Constructions'." All the guests cheered for Gray. Juvia was overwhelmed by the announcement as it meant Gray will now stay here. Silver looked at Gray and asked "Would you like to say something to them." Gray nervously took the mic from his dad and said "Thank you all for your support. I know the hard work that has gone into making this company one of the giants here. I will work hard and take this company to newer heights. I also humbly request your cooperation in achieving this." People were clapping and praising him. But for Juvia his voice felt like music to her ears. She saw Gray move towards his right and then disappeared somewhere at the back. Juvia got impatient and started to walk past many guests. She could hear a lot of people whisper things like _"Just look at her. Who on earth allowed her inside a high class party like this.", "Look at how ordinary her dress is.", "She must be a maid here."_ Juvia closed her eyes. She took a deep breath _"It's ok Juvia, don't listen to them. Just find Gray."_ Suddenly a man appeared in front of her, "Oh my! Did you get lost? How did a beggar like you end up here? By the way if I ignore your status, I can say that you are a very pretty girl." Saying this he started moving towards her. Juvia started trembling in fear _"This is going in the wrong direction."_ She thought. Suddenly the man felt a hand on his shoulder from behind him. He turned around to see who it is. He was shocked to see Gray behind him. He sheepishly moved away from there. Gray and Juvia stood there staring at each other for a few moments and then without saying anything he turned around to leave. Juvia immediately caught his hand. Gray stood still when he felt her hands on his but turned to look at her with a blank expression. "What is it?" he asked. "Gray sama are you not happy to see Juvia? Juvia waited all these years hoping against hope to see you. Why didn't you communicate with Juvia all this time? You didn't even reply to Juvia's letters." Gray pulled his hands out of her very harshly. Juvia was shocked at this gesture of his. "Why did you even come here? Did anyone send you an invitation card? Only formal invitees are allowed in here, so just go." Tears started falling from her eyes, "Gray sama, what did Juvia do that your treating her this way?"

A girl with long black hair set with a white hair band came running towards Gray, jerked Juvia slightly to the side and hugged him. "Ultear!" Gray said hugging her back. "Gray, I've been looking forward to see since forever." Gray looked at her and said "Good to see you too Ultear." "Come on Gray, show some excitement on your face as well. You always have just one expression on your face" she pouted. Gray ignored her remarks said "I heard that Dad appointed you as my Personal Assistant." "Yes that is true, I worked with the Fullbuster Constructions for quite some time now and when there was a need to find an assistant for you, I gladly took up this opportunity and applied for it and you dad also thought that I fit this post perfectly."

Juvia was standing in the side and listening to all this conversation, it broke her heart to see Gray ignore her this way and worse give importance to another woman. She moved closer to him and slightly gripped his arm and said "Gray sama, can Juv….." before she could finish, Gray jerked his hand out of her hand and yelled "JUST GO FROM HERE JUVIA!" And then he turned to Ultear and said "let's go, we have some important things to discuss." Juvia stood there in shock as she saw them both disappearing into one of the rooms. Tears didn't stop falling from her eyes. She ran out from his home and headed straight to the orphanage. She ignored all the concerned voices in the orphanage calling out to her and ran to her room, closed the door behind her and sank to the floor, crying into her knees.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

'The Comfort' orphanage was filled with concerned voices for Juvia. Some of them were constantly knocking on her door to get a response from her. "Quite everyone!" Amelia shouted from behind, "Leave her alone for some time, she will be alright." A blonde girl walked through the entrance of the orphanage amidst the chaos. She immediately caught Amelia's attention. Amelia walked to her and said "Lucy, I need you to be close to Juvia. She is in a pitiful state." "But what happened Miss Amelia?" Lucy asked. "Gray Fullbuster in back." Amelia replied. "What? I thought he would he would never be back after that incident took place. But is it not a good thing he returned? Juvia has been waiting so long to see him." Lucy said. "Well I don't know what to think of his return. Today morning I met Joey at the market, the driver who faithfully served the Fullbusters to this day. And he told me that Gray has changed completely. He now has anger issues and talks very bluntly and harshly to people. So I think something must've happened between Juvia and Gray." Amelia said with a sad expression on her face. Lucy crossed her arms and sighed, "I think she must've been rejected. I told her this long back when she was waiting for him to reply to her letters that these rich people would never want to have any sort of relationship with people like us. They just fool around and when they feel contend they move on to a better person and I am sure Gray must've found someone." Amelia looked at her and said "It's his life Lucy, we cannot do anything about it. But we have to be grateful to the Fullbuster family, they have been supporting our orphanage for a long time." "Yeah I know, we always have to put with everything these rich people do just because we are supported by them" Lucy said with a sad expression. Amelia lightly placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder and smiled said "It's ok Lucy. One day you will also be a very successful person." Amelia, now had a very determined look on her face, "It's now time to get Juvia married." Lucy looked shocked and asked "What? But do you think Gray will agree for this?" Amelia looked at her and said "It's not going to be Gray." "Then who? Any why now, suddenly? Lucy asked curiously. Amelia took Lucy to her room and closed the door behind her. They both sat down on the bed and Amelia started to narrate an incident that took place 26 years ago.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _Amelia was walking down the street of Hargeon town to visit her sister. It was late in the night that day but she still chose to pay her sister a surprise visit. She was working in America for the last 2 years so she could not find time to keep in touch with her sister properly due to her hectic work schedules. 7 months back when she contacted her sister, she was very happy to know her sister was pregnant. She was eagerly waiting to go meet her sister and her child. On reaching her sister's house she knocked on the door but the door was already open. So she pushed the door open further and walked inside. The entire house was dark so she moved around a little bit near the wall to find the switch board. Horror struck her when she saw the sight in front of her when she turned the lights on. She screamed. She saw her sister lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor. She bent down and violently jerked her sister, tears where flowing from her eyes and wouldn't stop, "Amara wake up, what happened to you. Don't you want to see me? I came to see you, talk to you, and carry your child in my arms not to see you like this. Wake up Amara, at least for me." "She is dead." She looked up see the source of this voice. Her brother in law was standing in front of her with a baby in his hand. He had a severe cut in his head and was bleeding. Amelia looked up at him and asked "What are you saying Declan? My sister cannot be dead. What happened here?" Declan looked at her with tears in his eyes, "It's true, Amara is no more. I'll explain things later to you but for now I want you to know this a dangerous place to be right now. Please take my daughter Juvia with you to your orphanage in Magnolia." "But what about…" before Amelia could finish Declan said "No questions now. Just do as I say, I will explain you later."_

 _2 weeks later_

 _Amelia was in her orphanage feeding Juvia milk. She was still feeling depressed about her sister's death and to make things worse Declan hasn't contacted her yet to explain what happened. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a postman call out to her from the entrance. She put Juvia in the cradle and went and collected a letter from the post man. Her hands were trembling as she saw blood stains on the letter. She opened the letter, the letter read:_

 _Dear Amelia,_

 _I am sorry I couldn't communicate with you post that incident. I am in a badly injured state right now and might not survive that is why I am writing to you so that even if I don't reach you, this letter will. Please take care of Juvia. The people who were after our lives are after Juvia's life as well. Please protect her. To keep her protected all her life, when she turns 26, get her married to Xavier Vastia's son Lyon Vastia. Please do this or else they will kill her also._

 _With regards,_

 _Declan_

 _After reading the letter, Amelia was trembling from head to toe and she started crying. There were so many unanswered questions here that put her in a lot of confusion. "Should I go to the police for help, no what if they might kill Juvia. And how can marriage protect her? Who is this Xavier Vastia? Oh God what am I supposed to do." She thought. Then she made a resolve that whatever happens she will protect Juvia for her sister and Declan's sake. She immediately resigned her job in America and started taking care of the needs of the orphanage full time._

 _ **End of flashback**_

Both Amelia and Lucy were in tears now. Lucy wiped her tears and said "Juvia never told me that you were her aunt." "She herself does not know that I am her aunt." Amelia replied. "What? Then why tell me now Miss Amelia?" Lucy asked, confused. Amelia looked at Lucy and said "It's because you are closest to Juvia among all the people here. She trusts you. I also have two favors to ask you, will you do it for me?" Lucy placed her hand on Amelia's shoulder and said "Go ahead, anything for you and Juvia." Amelia smiled a little and said "I knew I could trust you. Thanks. First you need to convince Juvia to get married and then help me find out who is Xavier Vastia and how can we reach him." "Finding Xavier should not be a problem, if he is a prominent personality he should be on the internet somewhere otherwise his son would definitely be on some social networking site, because today everybody is on some form of SNS today. If none of these work then we will think of another solution. But the bigger problem here is convincing Juvia, She is like totally devoted to Gray." Lucy said. Amelia agreed saying "I know. It's my fault, initially I was apprehensive about their growing friendship so I tried to prevent them from meeting each other but somehow their friendship bloomed and turned to love at that tender age and I foolishly put my hopes on Gray thinking he might be able to protect her somehow. But he has his own battles to face I guess. And he clearly showed his disinterest towards Juvia in these years that he was away and things became worse now that he is back. I think Juvia should move on and I hope Lyon proves to be a good match for her." "But are you sure Lyon can protect her? We don't know anything about him or his family." Lucy asked. "Right now I can only trust Declan because I don't want to lose Juvia as well." Saying this Amelia broke into tears. Lucy comforted Amelia saying "We will not lose Juvia, I will do my best to help you."

At the Fullbuster residence, Gray and Ultear were sitting in a room. Gray looked very disturbed. He sat with his face buried into his hands. Ultear was scared to say anything to him that might anger him but she mustered up courage and asked "Uhm.., Gray, are you alright?" Gray slowly lifted his face and looked at her and said "I'm fine." Ultear was still concerned and so she said "You don't look well, should I….." Before she could complete Gray looked at her and asked "Do you have my schedule ready for tomorrow? Because I want everything perfect, I will definitely not tolerate any mistakes." _"Oh God, I am getting nervous now already."_ She thought to herself. "Yes Gray. I have all your day one schedule." "Then read it to me" he said. She pulled out her phone to read it, when suddenly they heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Gray asked. He didn't get any response but the knocking on the door continued. Gray was now getting frustrated. Ultear said "I'll go see" and went and opened the door. A spiky pink haired guy entered the room and said "Geez, why take so long to open a door?" "Natsu, you could have said it was you." Gray said. "Why were you expecting someone else? Perhaps your girlfriend?" Natsu teased. At this Gray got up and caught Natsu by his collar. "Whoa! Easy buddy, easy" Natsu said holding Gray's hands at his collar and then Gray let go. "Seriously, you definitely need to take anger management classes." Gray sat down and said "I was to go through my schedule tomorrow with Ultear and you came and disturbed it." Natsu looked at Ultear extended his hand and said "Oh, so you're the newly appointed PA for Gray. Hi, I'm Natsu Dragneel. I'm taking care of the 'Fairy Tail' project for 'The Fullbuster Constructions'." "Hi I'm Ultear. Nice to meet you." And they both greeted each other. Gray looked at Natsu and asked "How is that project faring? It's my mother's idea and it took so long to materialize so don't mess it up." Natsu looked at him and said "Hey, don't doubt my abilities like that. I'm one of the best civil engineers in town. So don't worry, your project is in the most safe and able hands." "I'm counting on you Natsu. Keep me updated on the project." Gray said. Now, Silver entered the room and asked Gray "Did you say something to Juvia? I just called Miss Amelia to ask about Juvia's whereabouts and she told me that Juvia came here and went back to the orphanage crying." "She wasn't invited formally, so I told her to go back." Gray said. Silver and Natsu looked at him in shock whereas Ultear was looking at him with concern. "Gray, she is like a part of our family. She doesn't need any formal invitation." Silver said. "I only have you as my family dad. And that's the end of discussion. My head is hurting and so I'm going to rest in my room. You guys enjoy the party. Ultear, mail me the schedule." Saying this Gray walked out of the room. Leaving a very confused Silver and Natsu behind.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Gray sat in his cabin at office with his hands clutching his head. It was only his first day in office and he already attended two meetings since morning. His head was hurting very badly. Ultear, walked into his office but Gray didn't lift his face up see her.

"Gray" She called slowly.

"Hmm.." he replied.

He still didn't look at her. And she was only staring at him. After a few minutes, still not lifting his head he asked "What is it Ultear?"

She snapped out of her trance listening to his voice and said "Juvia is waiting for you outside."

"What?" he lifted his head in shock.

" _Stupid girl. Cant she understand I don't want to meet her."_ He thought.

"Tell her I am busy" He said.

"She has been waiting for you since three hours and I also told her that you are busy the whole day but still she said she will wait and will only go after she meets you." Ultear said.

"Well, it's none of my concern. She can sit here all day. You can go and have lunch now." Gray said.

"But what about your lunch?" Ultear, asked.

"I'll go later" he said.

Juvia was waiting outside his cabin for about four hours now. Still she saw no signs of Gray coming out. She came here despite Lucy and Amelia's objection. She always gets her way by pleading with them somehow and also shedding few tears. But she was grateful to have them in her life as they are the ones that truly shower their love on her and also stood by her in her toughest times. She remembered how Lucy was there with her always when she was desperately waiting for a reply from Gray. Today she decided not to bombard him with questions but to just spend time together like they normally used to, i.e., have lunch together. And then when he is relaxed and comfortable with her, she would ask him what caused this drastic change in him? She was waiting for him to come out to have lunch in the canteen so that she could go to him and offer him the lunch she prepared and brought.

Gray got up to go to the canteen to have his lunch. He opened his cabin door only to find Juvia standing there and smiling at him.

"Gray sama, Juvia brought lunch for both of us. Shall we eat together like we used to back in those days?" Juvia said.

Gray stood there just staring at her for a few seconds and then to Juvia's surprise he said "Come in."

Juvia happily followed Gray inside. He offered her a chair to sit and went and sat at the opposite side of the table. Juvia was flabbergasted looking at how spacious his cabin was and also the cabin seemed to have walls of glass through which she could see the entire city of Magnolia from this 15th floor.

Gray was staring at Juvia as she was unpacking all the boxes containing food. _"What in the world is this girl made of? Yesterday I insulted her and today I made her wait for so long. Yet she comes to me smiling and offers me food!"_

She pushed a box containing spaghetti to him and said "Try it, Juvia made it."

Gray took it and started eating. For a long time both of them were only eating and didn't talk at all. Juvia felt uncomfortable with this silence between them and to break this silence.

"How does it taste?" She asked.

But she got no reply. He continued to eat without even looking at her. After he finished eating he pushed the box towards her and got up to leave.

"Gray sama, can Juvia talk to you for a few minutes?" she asked.

Gray looked at her and said "Can you stop nagging me Juvia and let me live in peace. You know what, you are no different from those gold digger women who lure men into having relationship with them just for their status and wealth. Anyway thanks for the lunch; that was a nice try to lure Me." and left.

Juvia stood their stunned after listening to what he said. _"Does he seriously think about Juvia that way?"_ thinking about this left her in tears. With tears still in her eyes she put all the boxes in her bag and left.

Gray was at the construction site of 'Fairy Tail'. Since his mother was always ill, she had empathy towards people suffering from chronic diseases. One day in a very casual way she suggested Silver about building a hospital along with a university. Her intention was anyone who comes sick to a hospital must be taken good care of and treated in the best possible ways. Silver found the idea very good. He thought they can even have schemes like free treatments or reduced fees for poor people. But after the incident that took place 10 years ago he found it difficult to concentrate on his business but somehow persevered with the only motivation of bringing his wife's idea to fruition. That why it took so long to plan this and arrange all the resources to build this hospital and university. But luckily he found the best architect to entrust this project; Natsu Dragneel, who was Gray's classmate in school.

"So, what do you think?" Natsu asked Gray after showing him around the site.

"I'm glad you were trusted with this project. The progress is remarkable." Gray said.

"Thanks. Let's go to my office and talk. Since the main construction of the hospital is almost done, I would like to show you some designs for its interior." Natsu said.

"I would love to look at it but maybe not now. I have a severe headache since afternoon and the noises here are adding to it. So I would prefer going home now." Gray said.

"Yeah, I think you should go home and rest. You don't look too well. Do you need some aspirin tablets?" Natsu asked.

"No. I'll manage." Gray said. "See you later Natsu."

Gray waved Natsu goodbye and started walking towards his car. The noises in this construction were adding greatly to his headache to a point where he couldn't tolerate now. Suddenly, his vision started to blur and instead of noises at the construction site he heard a strange ringing noise. Ignoring all these he rapidly walked to his car. He started to sweat profusely and felt severe pain taking over his hands and feet. He caught the handle door to open it when suddenly everything went black.

Natsu rushed to Gray when he saw him lying on the floor near his car. He turned Gray around and helped him sit straight with his back resting against the car door. He then roughly patted his cheeks to bring him back to consciousness, but didn't get any response. So he bought a bottle of water and started sprinkling it on Gray's face.

Gray slowly regained consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes. But he still had a very bad headache. He looked around and saw Natsu look at him very worriedly.

"You scared the hell out of me. You lay fainted here. What happened to you?" Natsu asked.

Gray was simply staring at natsu without giving him any response. This worried Natsu even more.

Natsu jerked Gray's shoulders and asked him "What happened Gray?"

Gray snapped out of his trance and got up with Natsu's support.

"Uh…. I must've overworked and also this headache is getting worse. I'll just go home and rest, it'll be alright. Thanks for helping." Saying this Gray opened the door of his car when Natsu caught his hand.

"I'll drive. I'm not letting you drive home in this state." Said Natsu.

"But what about work here? I can manage on my own Natsu." Said Gray

"I have talented workers here. They'll take care. Right now your health is more important." Saying this he sat in the driver seat of the car and was waiting for Gray to sit in the car.

Finally, Gray had to give in to Natsu's stubbornness. He went and sat beside Natsu in the passenger's seat.

Natsu drove all the way to Gray's residence and all this while Gray felt the pain in his hands and feet increasing. But he didn't explicitly show it so that he didn't attract Natsu's attention. But Natsu sensed something wrong with Gray.

"Gray are you alright?" asked Natsu.

"Uh… yeah." Said Gray.

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked doubtfully.

"Yes Natsu." Said Gray forcing a smile.

When they reached Gray's residence, Natsu parked the car in the garage and helped Gray step out of the car.

"Should I help you till your room?" asked Natsu.

"Come on Natsu. Now you're treating me like a kid. I'm absolutely fine. It's just a slight headache." Said Gray. "I'll arrange a car and a driver for you."

"Take care Gray." Said Natsu. "And when you come next time don't faint and scare me."

Gray nodded his head and waved goodbye to Natsu forcing a smile. He stood there watching Natsu leave. The pain in his hands, legs and head were getting severe. The moment he saw Natsu's car outside the gate, he took out his phone and called Dr. Porlyusica.

"Doctor I need your help." Said gray.

"I'll be there in 15 min." said the doctor.

Gray walked to his room silently making sure his father doesn't notice his presence. Upon reaching his bedroom he was constantly watching the entrance to his residence from his balcony to spot the doctor despite the pains taking a toll over his body.

After exactly 15 min. a car came to a stop in front of the gate attracting Gray's attention. A slim and tall elderly lady with pink hair tied in a bun stepped out of the car wearing a white coat and a stethoscope hanging around her neck.

Gray looked at her in shock. _"Why did she come here in her doctor's clothes? Now what if dad notice's her?"_ He thought.

Dr. Porlyusica walked to the door and as she was about to enter Silver saw her and walked up to her _._

"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you." Said Silver.

"That is because this is the first time we are meeting Mr. Silver." She said.

"Is it? But you know my name!" Said Silver.

"That is because I know your son and he was the one who called me here." She said.

" _Oh no. It slipped out of my tongue. How am I supposed to handle this now? Where are you Gray"_ She thought nervously.

"But why did he call you?" asked Silver.

Now she was really nervous and didn't know what to say. So she randomly blurted out "My name is Porlyusica and I …" Before she could complete Gray walked in.

"Dad she is a doctor by profession. I called her here to discuss certain things about the 'Fairy Tail' project" said Gray. "Now please excuse us." And then left to his room with the doctor.

Silver thought _"I'm glad you're putting so much of efforts into that project Gray."_ Before he could ask Gray when he came home both the doctor and Gray disappeared into the room.

"How could you be so careless? You should have changed to something casual before coming to my house." Gray said in an irritated tone.

"I had just finished with an emergency case when you called me. And after talking to you I thought you were in some serious trouble so I rushed here. So don't blame me for this and also don't put in this type of situation again. I was so nervous." She said.

Gray looked at her with a very irritated expression and before he could say anything,

"Tell me what your problem is?" she asked.

"Severe headache and pain in my hands and feet. Maybe I overworked in office today." He said.

The doctor took out an injection from her bag and filled it with medicine and gave it to Gray. He sensed relief after few minutes. When he opened his mouth to ask her something,

"Did you find relief?" she asked.

"Yeah I feel fine now." He said.

"Oh that is good." She said. But HOW DARE YOU IGNORE taking tablets every morning? And then over work yourself in the office. IS THIS A JOKE?"

Gray was taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Your tablets mostly make me sleep and I didn't want to doze off on my first day of work." He said sheepishly.

"OH, so you'd rather DIE than sleep, IS IT?" she shouted.

"Can you stop shouting? My dad might hear." He said.

"See Gray, this fabry disease that you have inherited from your mother is a very rare disease and equally tough to treat. Please cooperate, it's a question of life and death." She said with a sad expression.

"So exactly how many days do I have left on this planet?" he asked with a straight face.

"HUH! What kind of an irresponsible question is that? I am treating to save your life and not sit and count the number of days you have left." She said. "I'm cooperating with you in not disclosing this to your family and I hope to have your full cooperation in the treatment. Don't lose heart Gray, you will definitely come out of this."

Gray stared at her with tears in his eyes and said "This is not about the success of this treatment. I have to find out the reason for my mother's death and I have to do it fast in case I have less time left."

She placed a hand on his shoulder and said reassuringly "It's ok Gray we will work it out together."

"Can I tell you something, but I don't know if you'll remain calm after listening to it" she said.

"What is it about?" he asked.

"Juvia" she said

"Then don't tell me anything. I think we are done for today." He said.

"See Gray, I'm like a mother to you and will only wish you good in your life that is why I'm telling you don't be so rude to her. Whatever differences that you have sought it out with her. It can also bring a positive influence in you health." She said.

To her shock Gray broke down in tears. She embraced him and gently patted his back and asked "Gray are you alright?"

Gray slowly pulled away and wiped his tears. He said "I don't want her to go through what my dad is going through right now. She has an entire life ahead of her and does not deserve to be mourning over someone for the rest of her life."

"Gray, we are working towards saving your life." She said.

"But there is no guarantee!" He said.

Juvia was standing in front of 'The Comfort' orphanage. She was so hurt by what Gray told her in his office today. Even now she was in tears thinking about it. She wiped all her tears and put a forced smile on her face and entered the orphanage.

"I'm back Miss Amelia." She said cheerfully.

Amelia looked at her and said "Get ready Juvia. We are going shopping today."

"Shopping! But why suddenly?" asked Juvia.

"Because tomorrow you are getting engaged. So we have to buy a lot of thing like decorations, dresses and all." Said Amelia.

"WHAT?" Juvia screamed.

 **A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing my story. This is my first attempt at writing a story and so I am learning a lot through your reviews. I tried my best to work on the structure of the story to improve your reading experience. Feel free to highlight on anything you feel is not right in the story so that I can improve on it. Once again thank you all for taking time to read my story.**


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